The Incident
by RedSnape
Summary: In an accident at Fred and George's shop, Hermione becomes stuck to her worst enemy. The worst part is though, they're stuck until they learn to like each other. Is it even possible to like a ferret? Rated T for language. Fred and Severus are alive.
1. Chapter 1

_Disclaimer: I am not J. K. Rowling, therefore I own only the plot in this fanfiction. _

_**The Incident  
><strong>Chapter 1_

Hermione Granger was not what you'd call a normal girl. Firstly, she could do magic. Secondly, she was friends with wizards renowned for getting into trouble. Thirdly, this almost always ended up with Hermione getting involved out of the goodness of her heart (or in some cases, like this, she was involved involuntarily) because she couldn't bear to see her friends get hurt.

Now, this situation was unlike any others her friends had gotten her into – most likely because it was caused by her best friend's twin brothers who were the top troublemakers known to wizardkind. The 'incident', as Hermione liked to refer to it afterwards, happened on one bright, sunny day that seemed like the perfect day to relax outside and read a book, however, unfortunately Hermione had to go to work.

As Hermione had returned to Hogwarts after the war to finish her schooling, she was considered an 'eighth year', which gave her special privileges such as leaving the castle anytime she didn't have classes. So, to save up some money as she could no longer rely on her parents who were still living in Australia, she took on a part-time job at the Weasley's Wizard Wheezes.

The joke shop was run by the Weasley twins, the troublemakers mentioned above, but Hermione had a soft spot for them deep down. Which was why she had agreed to help them with their experiments every weekend.

This particular day, Hermione apparated to Diagon alley and entered the shop hesitantly, as if she could feel in her bones that something eventful was going to occur. She walked straight through the throng of customers to the back room, where all Fred and George's inventions were created.

"Hi Hermione," the twins greeted her in sync, overly cheerily, which made her more suspicious.

"Hi boys," she replied slowly, her eyes focused on the cauldron sitting in the middle of the room which had red, blue and yellow sparks jumping out of it. Without getting too close, Hermione leant over the cauldron to look at the potion which was surprisingly a brilliant purple colour. "What is this potion?"

Fred looked at George, and answered, "It is our newest-"

"-latest-"

"-brilliantest-"

"-amazingest-"

"-remarkablest-"

"-astoundingest-"

Hermione rolled her eyes at their antics, and winced at their terrible use of the English language.

"-marvellousest-"

"-potion yet," George finished, panting slightly.

"So… what does it do?" Hermione asked, smiling slightly, even though she'd never admit that she found them funny.

"It gives you and your worst enemy the same magnetic pole so that they are always repelled away from you," Fred informed her seriously.

"They can't get within 10 feet of you at any time," George said gleefully.

"How long does it last?"

Fred answered her. "Around two or three days, but we aren't entirely sure."

Hermione picked up the ingredient list and method they had created before brewing the potion and began reading it, while George scooped out a ladle of the potion and poured it into a small glass vial.

"It's actually a very good idea, and it seems like you've done a good job of making it."

"You seem surprised, Hermione!" Fred exclaimed.

"How could you, Hermione? You know we never fail to impress," George shook his head sadly, but Hermione could see him grinning.

Hermione chuckled and rolled her eyes, before double checking the ingredients list.

"Now to test it out!" George gave Fred the glass vial he was holding and filled another of his own.

Then, everything happened so quickly, Hermione was never quite sure of what occurred at that moment, but she was fairly sure of this:

While rechecking the ingredients list, she came across a very subtle clash in the properties of two of the ingredients. But, while it was subtle, she knew instantly that it would alter the whole effect of the potion. Hermione then yelled out a very loud, "NO!" and flung her arm across at the twins. As George dropped his vial in surprise, Hermione's hand hit the bottom of Fred's, sending it flying up into the air. The three of them watched in horror with their jaws dropped as the vial spun around in almost slow motion, causing small drops to rain down on Hermione's face. Somehow, in a ridiculous coincidence, one drop landed in Hermione's open mouth. There was a huge purple flash, and the next thing Fred and George knew, Hermione was being pulled by an invisible force out of the room, so quickly they couldn't do a thing to stop her. They ran out into the store, just as Hermione was flying feet first through the open door, her arms outstretched towards the twins, screaming, "YOU IDIOTS!"

Fred and George gulped audibly and looked at each other.

"She'd going to kill us, isn't she?"

Hundreds of miles away in the Slytherin eighth year male dorm room, Gregory Goyle, Blaise Zabini and Theodore Nott were woken up by a loud yell and opened their eyes to see Draco Malfoy clutching onto a bedpost. His body looked like some sort of strange flag on a flagpole, Goyle noted sleepily.

"What the fuck is going on?" Zabini frowned. "What are you doing Draco?"

"I'm just stretching out my legs," Draco panted sarcastically. Sweat was dripping down his face and he was trying his hardest to keep hold of the bedpost, even though his body was being pulled away from it. "DOES IT LOOK LIKE I'M FUCKING DOING THIS ZABINI?"

All of a sudden the bed started moving in the direction of the door as well as Draco. The force pulling him away from the other Slytherins was so strong, the bed wasn't heavy enough to keep him in the room.

"DON'T JUST STAND THERE! FUCKING HELP ME!"

Goyle was the first up. He grabbed hold of the opposite side of the bed pulling it in his direction. Then Nott and Zabini each grabbed one of the other two posts, attempting to hold the bed in place. However, the force was too strong for them and when the bed continued to move towards the door, they all let go, not wanting to be smashed into the wall. Luckily, they did it just in time. All of a sudden, a loud cracking noise filled the air and Draco went flying out, holding on only to a broken piece of wood as the bed crashed into the door frame, the curtains falling down onto the mattress due to the missing post.

The three boys looked bewildered but slightly bemused, and being the lazy teenage boys that they were, climbed back into their respective beds and fell back asleep.


	2. Chapter 2

_**The Incident  
><strong>Chapter 2_

5 minutes later in the Scottish countryside, two figures could be seen crashing together somewhat painfully, then falling to the ground, held together by some invisible force.

"I WILL KILL FRED AND GEORGE WEASLEY!" came the extremely shrill scream from Hermione Granger.

"Granger?" Draco Malfoy said incredulously, twisting his head to look at her. The pair were sitting on the ground with their backs stuck together. "_You _did this?"

"No!" Hermione huffed, "I did _not _do this. Fred and George were trying to create a potion to keep my worst enemy away from me by giving us the same magnetic pole so we'd always just repel each other. But instead, they created a potion that gave us opposite poles, so we're going to be constantly attracted towards each other for the next 2 or 3 days!"

"Ew, as if I'd ever be attracted to a Mudblood!" Draco answered in disgust. "Are you fucking serious?"

Hermione's anger originally directed at the twins bubbled over due to Malfoy's rude comments, and the idea of spending 3 days in the company of a prejudiced bigot caused her to almost completely lose it, but she took a deep breath in an attempt to calm herself before answering him.

"Draco Malfoy, if you haven't noticed, I am just as unhappy as you about our current situation," she said in an eerily calm voice that caused shivers to run down Draco's spine. "However, I believe that we should work together to get us out of this mess, rather than waste time insulting each other. The longer we spend trying to get out of this predicament, the less time I have to spend with you in the long run."

"I think I preferred it when you were yelling," Draco replied honestly, her calm tone freaking him out.

Hermione didn't answer him.

"So… what's a magnetic pole?"

Hermione closed her eyes in disbelief. How was it that most witches and wizards had absolutely no clue about the muggle world? "Don't worry, I'll explain it later if I can find some magnets. Just know that we could probably be pulled apart if someone was strong enough, but as soon as they let go, we'd go crashing back together. And since the first time was painful enough, I'd rather not go through a repeat."

Draco sat in silence for a moment, trying to comprehend what Hermione was telling him. "So if we aren't actually stuck together, would we be able to move into a different position? Because it's gonna be seriously awkward if we have to walk around back to back."

Hermione considered his suggestion for a moment. She was actually rather impressed that he was being cooperative instead of continuing to swear at her and insult her. "I suppose we could try. But first we should stand up. We'll probably have to do it slowly because-"

Draco, however, had stopped listening and had attempted to stand up without and the result had Hermione's back sliding down his, but before she hit the ground, Hermione began to panic and tried to reach over and use her hands to soften her landing, causing her and Draco both to topple over sideways.

"Ow, fuck Granger, what are you doing?"

"I was trying to tell you we need to stand up together but you went ahead and did it anyway! This isn't my fault!"

Draco, surprising Hermione once again, didn't respond, instead letting her direct them bit by bit until they were standing back to back.

"Okay let's try to stand side by side."

"It's no wonder people call you bossy," Draco muttered under his breath.

"Sorry?" Hermione asked suspiciously, having not heard Draco's mumbling clearly, but quite certain it was another offensive comment.

"Nothing," Draco replied sweetly, trying to avoid her yelling at him.

Hermione sighed, as much as Draco was making an effort to get along, the situation was just wearing on her nerves – he was still her enemy after all.

"Alright, we're going to have to push off each other for this to work, and we have to do it at the same time or one of us will end up pulling the other with them and most likely falling over." Hermione quickly explained the rest of her plan and then began a short countdown. "Three… Two… One!"

The pair both reached back and grabbed hands, using the other to drive themselves forward. They then let go of each other, turned 45 degrees and were slammed back together with a resounding "oof".

"Well…" Draco started, "That was a lot more work than I thought it would be. And it's a lot more uncomfortable than the other position."

The two of them were being forced together so hard that Hermione's shoulder was digging into Draco's arm, as she was a lot shorter than him.

"It's so difficult to move away from each other because of the powdered unicorn hair Fred and George put in the potion. It amplifies the potency and therefore-"

"Shut up, Granger. I really don't care that much."

"Well you should! You might actually come close to receiving the marks I receive if you cared more about the properties of potions ingredients!" Hermione replied hotly.

"I can't believe I have to be stuck to you for three fucking days. What did I do to deserve this?" he whined.

Hermione snorted. "You bullied me for seven years, picked on my friends and to top it all off, you became a death eater and were most likely responsible for several deaths. The better question is: What did _I _do to deserve this?"

"I never killed anyone," Draco said quietly, staring straight ahead.

"Never intentionally, but God only knows how many people's lives you ruined through your actions. Vincent Crabbe is just one-"

"Shut up, Granger."

"Why? Are you too cowardly to admit that you were partially responsible for his death?" The hurtful words were falling out of Hermione's mouth, and even though she knew she would regret them later, she couldn't stop herself from continuing. "Or is it just the fact that you can't bear listening to a _Mudblood _tell you that your pureblood values disgust me, and that the deaths of so many innocent lives – much more innocent than Crabbe's – are on _your _hands-"

"Shut the fuck up, Granger!" Draco yelled, turning his head to face her. The fury flashing in his eyes and the closeness of their faces had Hermione regretting how hard she pushed him, and she shrank away from him in fear, which only resulted in a few extra inches as their bodies were still being pulled together. "Don't fucking act like you know me. You have absolutely no idea why I did what I did during the war. Just because your path was clear from the beginning, doesn't mean that everyone else had the same freedom to choose sides. You have no fucking idea, Granger, and yet you're supposedly the smartest witch of your age. You're so wrapped up in knowledge and books, you can't see that real wisdom and perception is achieved by understanding people, not fucking potion theories."

Hermione was stunned into silence by his outburst. She had never really given much thought as to how Malfoy's own family situation pushed him into doing things he didn't want to do. Her own family was always so separate from the magical world that her choices were always fully _hers._ Malfoy was right, her path was always to fight against the dark, from the very beginning and her choice to continue doing so was simple. She never even considered not fighting. But to have grown up in the world he did, where fighting against the wrong person could result in being disowned from his family, or even worse, it could result in the murder of one of his parents, Malfoy never really had much of a choice. But part of her still wondered whether he ever even wished he could fight for the light side, or whether he enjoyed being a death eater, exterminating muggleborns and blood traitors.

Draco broke the silence first. "Let's just go find the Weasel freak twins and see if there's a way we can reverse this," he said flatly. "Arguing isn't going to get us anywhere, and we really need to get away from each other before wands get involved in our next disagreement."

Hermione nodded, tearing her eyes away from Draco's inexpressive face. His flat tone and lack of expression making her feel guiltier than his fury.

"I'll side-along you so we don't get splinched," he told her, before making a small, awkward twisting movement and disapparating.

_Thanks for reading :) Please review!_


	3. Chapter 3

_**The Incident  
><strong>Chapter 3_

To say it was a slightly awkward trip from the apparition point in Diagon Alley to Fred and George's shop would be a massive understatement in Hermione's opinion. Draco was talking to her almost robotically, and only when necessary, due to her previous rant about his Death Eater morals, and to top it off, walking while joined to another person was extremely difficult. If one person walked too fast, the other would get dragged along and stumble, causing both of them to lose balance. After three or so of these occurrences, Hermione decided that it would be easier to simply chant, "Step, step, step, step…" to keep their paces in time with each other. Of course, this didn't work all that well either as Draco's strides were much longer than Hermione's, so there was a quick squabble between them in which Draco announced (in his emotionless tone), "You step further, and I'll step shorter. Got it?"

They finally arrived at the Weasley's Wizard Wheezes and pushed open the door. It was quite a struggle getting through the packed shop, and the pair ended up knocking over several displays. Suddenly George appeared in front of Hermione looking slightly peeved.

"Hey, you better fix that up or…" he trailed off when he saw who it was. "Hermione!" he began cheerily, "And Draco Malfoy! What brings you two here together on this lovely day."

"George…" Hermione warned softly.

"Did I just hear that the lovely Miss Granger has returned?" Fred said smoothly as he joined the group, smiling at Hermione and Draco.

Hermione exhaled loudly, beyond annoyed at the twins' lightheartedness. "This is serious guys. We really need to fix this."

Fred looked questioningly at George. "What is it that Hermione needs to fix, brother?"

"I'm not quite sure, Fred. She looks perfectly content at the moment."

Hermione's glare – if possible – just increased in intensity.

"Ahh," Fred sighed, "That beautiful smile is what I dream about every night."

George nodded enthusiastically in agreement.

"Fred and George Weasley, if you don't shut up and help us out right now, I will tell your mother that it was your stupid mistake that got me stuck to a bloody Malfoy for two days, and she will make you regret ever coming up with the idea of this horrid potion!"

Fred and George gulped simultaneously.

"Actually Hermione-" George started.

"-we went through the potion recipe again after you left-" Fred cut in.

"-and it turns out-"

"-that its not actually two to three days until the potion wears off…"

Hermione's eyes narrowed dangerously.

"How long?" Draco breathed, finally showing some emotion in his fear of hearing the answer.

The twins looked at each other again, took a deep breath and blurted out, "," before visibly bracing themselves for a verbal onslaught.

Draco's eyes closed. "Fuck me."

Hermione eyes widened in panic. "You're telling me that until Malfoy and I decide we actually like each other, we're stuck like this?" her voice rose frantically in pitch until her last words were barely audible. "I have to live with this horrible… _git… _and learn to _like _him?"

"Hey, it's not like you're any better to be stuck with. How the hell am I supposed to like a bossy, know-it-all prude who's gonna be leaving all her Mudblood germs on me?"

"I am _not _a prude!"

Draco snorted. "That's what you took offense to the most out of that whole insult?"

Hermione ignored him, and instead held her head in her arm that wasn't stuck to Malfoy. "Shit… Damn it to hell… bloody fucking crap… my life is ruined!" she cried.

Fred and George looked alarmed. "She's lost the plot."

"Gone mental, she has."

"Have fun with her, Malfoy."

"We'll, uh, just be off now. Sorry, got things to do, people to see, good luck!" And with that the two redheads moved swiftly into hiding.

"WEASLEY!" Draco thundered, pulling his wand from his pocket, as the realisation of being stuck with Granger for an unknown amount of time finally sunk it.

"Malfoy!" Hermione shrieked, frightened for the twins' safety. Even though she was exceedingly angry at them for their blunder, she still didn't want to see either of them harmed. "We're going."

She began to storm from the shop, dragging Draco with her. He gave up trying to get to Fred and George and walked with her, pausing once they reached the street. "Where are we going?"

"To see Professor Snape," she muttered.

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.

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"Unfortunately," Snape drawled, somewhat sadistically, "there can be nothing done to reverse the effects of this potion."

"What?" Hermione exclaimed, having been so certain that _Snape _would surely be able to create a cure.

"Contrary to what you might believe, Miss Granger, I do not have the ability to find a solution to every student's problems."

Hermione huffed. "That's not what-"

"Now if you'll excuse me, I have work to do. I am sorry I could not do more to help, Draco," Snape said in his deep baritone voice.

"But what are we supposed to-"

"That is all, Miss Granger," he cut her off without looking up.

With a roll of her eyes, Hermione took off out of Snape's office, Draco once again left to stumble along with her.

"Seriously, Granger, could you stop doing that?" he whined once they were out of the room. "It's particularly frustrating to be pulled along without warning and you leave no option but to trip up every time you decide to have a hissy fit."

"I just can't believe how unfair this situation is!" she complained, slowing down slightly to allow Draco to regain his pacing in time with Hermione.

"You're not the only one who has to deal with this Granger," he hissed at her. "This whole time you've been whining about how frustrating it is for you, but do try to remember that this is just as equally horrible for me, if not more so."

"And why would it be any worse for you?"

"You're a Mudblood," Draco stated, as if the answer should have been obvious all along.

"And you're a Death Eater," Hermione retorted.

There was a short silence.

"The war is over, Granger," Draco reminded her flatly. "Things are more different now than you realize."

Hermione took a moment to consider his words. Draco did seem a lot less _snobbish _than he was two years ago, if his attempt at civility so far was anything to go by. She suddenly had an idea.

"Well since it seems you dislike being called a Death Eater as you're _different _now, how about if I don't call you that, you refrain from calling me Mudblood. It shouldn't be too hard, and that way we can try to maintain this polite respect thing we've got going."

Draco snorted. "I highly doubt what's been said so far could be called _polite _at any standard. But I suppose I could attempt to be somewhat respectful to you while we're stuck together. It would definitely make things easier."

Hermione was surprised. With any other person she would've thought the same thing, but considering hers and Draco's past, what they had said to each other through the day was almost _nice_ in her opinion. Even the big argument they'd had earlier was nothing compared to the rows they used to have. So if Draco was saying that he could be _respectful _towards her, she supposed he must have become a nicer person once he was out of the influence of Voldemort and Lucius. But of course, that was an assumption, and no way would she rely on that theory to be true until she could witness it herself.

"Good, then we agree. We'll lessen the insults and try our hardest to cooperate 'til we get out of this mess." Hermione gave him a tentative smile and the corners of Draco's lips twitched slightly in return.

_I hope Draco doesn't seem too OOC. I've been trying to give clear reasoning behind his sudden civility with Hermione and his seemingly lack of disgust at the idea of spending so much time with her. My idea is that once the war was over, Draco was free to have his own values, and I believe that he isn't actually that prejudiced. More will be explained later, but so far he's only really been calling her Mudblood out of habit moreso than actually believing that muggleborns are inferior to purebloods._

_Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter :)_


	4. Chapter 4

_**The Incident**_

_Chapter 4_

"Oh dear," Professor McGonagall said upon hearing of Hermione and Draco's situation. "And you're sure Severus can't find a remedy?"

"That's what he told us."

"But the man created an anti venin for himself before he even knew he'd be attacked, strong enough that it stayed in his veins for a week before he was bitten. Severus is the most skilled potions master in all of Europe. _Surely_ he could find something."

Hermione looked at Professor McGonagall's disbelieving face and smiled wistfully. "Unfortunately he can't. Fred and George said that until Mal- Draco and I learn to like each other, we're stuck like this."

The old Professor froze, looking between the pair with her eyebrows raised. Then she burst out laughing. "Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy, forced together until they _like each other!" _She choked out between uncontrollable giggles.

Hermione and Draco looked at each other in shock. Neither had ever seen their Headmistress like this, and they were slightly worried. But aside from that, it was rather insulting she thought their unlucky predicament so hilarious. She should be concerned and trying to help rather than clutching her stomach while cackling like an evil witch.

"Professor!"

All of a sudden she stopped laughing and gazed at them with a Dumbledore-like twinkle in her eye. "It could actually work, you know. You two…" before resuming her laughter.

"Professor!" Hermione tried again after she saw Draco's face. He was fuming. Hermione was almost surprised that steam wasn't pouring out of his ears. "Professor McGonagall! Is there a spare room we could have somewhere in the castle?"

This only caused a very loud and indecent snort to come from the old Transfiguration teacher, and she began hooting louder than ever. "Take the room next to statue of Gillyus the Great on the third floor," she forced out, tears pouring down her face. "Oh, how I wish Albus was here to witness this! What a way to employ House unity!"

"Thanks, Professor," Hermione said hurriedly, grabbing Draco's arm. "Come on," she whispered to him warily, he was still glaring at McGonagall. "Draco!"

He turned and began walking out with Hermione in silence, leaving Professor McGonagall who was scrambling for a quill and parchment exclaiming, "I must congratulate the Weasley twins!"

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.

"I don't get why we're using this room," Draco said frowning, as they reached their room.

"Well there is no way I'm sleeping in the Slytherin boy's dorm, and I'm pretty sure Parvati and Lavender won't want you in our room. Although, come to think of it, they probably wouldn't mind all that much, being so shallow and all," Hermione said, smirking a little at the envy the girls would be feeling once they found out she would be sharing a room with Draco Malfoy.

"But why do we have to share a room?"

"Draco, we're stuck together for an unknown amount of days! What did you expect? That we just miraculously fall apart once the sun goes down?"

Draco groaned. "I hadn't even thought about it."

Hermione then began laughing at his idiocy.

"Aw man, I'm gonna cop so much shit for this," he moaned.

"Oh, grow up, Malfoy," she snapped indignantly.

"But you're Hermione Granger!"

"Yes, I did actually know that already, thanks," she replied darkly.

Malfoy glanced at her briefly. "Sorry, it's just, honestly, now that you've mentioned sleeping, other consequences of Dumb and Dumber's potion have crossed my mind."

"Such as?" Hermione opened the door and they entered a small lounge area with an empty bookshelf. There was a short silence.

Draco gulped. "Showering and changing mainly…" he trailed off.

Hermione stopped walking and looked at him, eyes wide. "No. There is no way I am showering with you in there with me!" she squealed, repulsed at the idea.

"Yeah, well it's not like I want you in my shower either!"

"We are not showering." Hermione put her foot down. "We can just use _scourigify."_

"You do know that _scourigify _is really bad for-"

"I don't care. Nothing you could say would convince me to shower with you," she responded with the air of finality. They moved to the other side of the room where there was a door which led into a nice, spacious bedroom decorated in rich earthy colours that instantly made Hermione feel at home. There was a bathroom to the right which Hermione refused to enter, the idea of showering still creeping her out.

Draco's stomach rumbled, interrupting the quiet and Hermione threw him an accusing stare.

"Hey, I was pulled straight out of bed across the country, so excuse me for not eating all day."

Hermione sighed. "Well, it's almost lunch. We may as well head down to eat."

The staircases proved to be a bit of a problem. Going down them seemed a lot harder than their climb up from the dungeons earlier, but they soon got the hang of it.

After a while Draco began noticing the weird looks people were giving him and Hermione. "People are looking at us weird!"

"Well, what did you imagine would happen? Of course they're going to think it's weird, we hate each other, and now we're walking side by side."

Draco groaned.

"You know, you groaning seems to have become habit this morning. Can you please lighten up and stop being so self-pitying?"

He groaned again, receiving another accusing stare. "And you staring at me like I just did something absolutely horrendous has become a habit this morning. Do you mind?" He said, smiling sarcastically.

"Fine."

They reached the Great Hall, pausing when they realized all eyes were on them.

"Fuck."

"Draco!"

"Well, look!"

"It doesn't mean you should use such vulgar language."

"Oh, piss off, Granger," he hissed. "I mean, sorry, Hermione. And don't look at me like that again!"

"Let's just sit somewhere."

Draco instantly moved to the left, in the direction of the Slytherin table while Hermione automatically went in the direction of the Gryffindor table. As Draco was much bigger and stronger, Hermione ended up stumbling over her feet and hitting Draco in the back, which caught him by surprise. He ended up tripping, pulling Hermione further and both of them then fell to the ground.

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.

.

"So you're telling me that this is all my idiot brothers' fault?" Ginny asked. She was easily the least affected by Draco's near presence out of her, Ron and Harry, but that didn't stop her from throwing him withering glances every now and then. It was, in Draco's opinion, slightly better than the disgusted glower he was receiving from Weasley and the overly angry and suspicious looks he was getting from Potter as if to say, "This is all your fault. What are you planning, Malfoy?"

"Yep," Draco answered. "So if you don't mind, Weaslette, we'll be going to my table." And with that, he stood up, pulling Hermione with him and began walking to the other side of the Great Hall, ignoring Hermione's protests.

"What a git," Ron said darkly.

"He's clearly up to something," Harry muttered.

Ginny laughed loudly. "Harry, Malfoy's Death Eater days are over. You don't have to be so suspicious."

Harry mumbled something incomprehensible in return, watching his nemesis and best friend as they sat at the Slytherin table.

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.

.

"What?" Parkinson shrieked. "This is your fault, Mudblood!"

"Pansy," Draco said commandingly, his voice reeking power and superiority.

Pansy stopped her accusing shouting instantly. Even though the Slytherins had lost a lot of respect for all the Malfoys after the war, Draco still demanded attention and had gradually reclaimed his authority throughout the year. Most of his house feared his wrath so Draco found it extremely easy to get whatever he wanted from his housemates, specifically the girls like Pansy who would do anything for him even before he regained his power.

"But Drakey," she whined, fluttering her eyelashes. "How are we supposed to… _get together_ if you're always with her?"

Hermione shuddered, catching the innuendo. How anyone could ever find Pansy attractive when pouting like that and caked in make up, she would never understand.

Draco smirked slightly. "Sorry, beautiful," he answered her smoothly. "You'll have to find someone else to… _satisfy _you until Granger and I get out of this dilemma." He gave her another charming smile, which had Pansy blushing.

"Oh, okay, baby. If that's what you want," she answered sickeningly.

They spent the rest of lunch in relative silence, only broken when Blaise Zabini sat down and asked why Granger was sitting with them. Once the story was retold, he began chuckling to himself.

"And this is 'til you guys stop hating each other?"

"Yes," Hermione said dryly. Pansy looked at her, seemingly repulsed at the idea of Hermione opening her mouth to talk. Hermione raised an eyebrow at her challengingly. When Pansy didn't respond for fear of Draco's wrath, Hermione adopted a very Malfoy-like smirk.

"So what are you gonna do about classes tomorrow? You don't have all the same subjects," Blaise stated, before taking a bite out of a sandwich.

Hermione and Draco looked at each other. Another thing they hadn't considered. "Uh…"

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.

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After seeing the Headmistress again, who had finally recovered from her laughing fit, Draco and Hermione were sitting in their shared lounge discussing the options McGonagall had given them. They could either go to all their shared classes like Potions and Defence Against the Dark Arts and take it in turns to attend their separate classes. For example, one day they would go to Transfiguration (Hermione's class), and the next they'd go to Astronomy (Draco's class). However, Professor McGonagall thought it would be better if they simply skipped all their classes but kept in contact with their teachers as to keep up with the class in homework. Draco and Hermione were the top students in the year, and were both ahead of most of the class anyway. McGonagall also thought it would give them more time to spend together and get to know each other better, therefore increasing the chance of them learning to like each other.

Hermione, of course, didn't want to skip any classes, whereas Draco thought it was a wonderful idea.

"C'mon, Granger! We're both ahead in every class, because you study too much and I'm just naturally smart, and we'll keep up homework and everything. Don't you wanna get out of this mess quickly?"

"Yes, I do, but Draco, we can't miss every class. What happens if we stay here day and night and things don't get any better? We could end up missing a whole month of classes!" She looked appalled at the idea. "What if we jeopardize our NEWTs because of this?"

Draco sighed heavily. "How about, we skip classes for a week, and if we can't figure this out by then we'll start going back next week?"

Hermione considered this briefly. "I still don't like it."

"Gra- Hermione, I don't like being permanently attached to you, but I'm coping!"

"Okay," Hermione groaned. "But only for the week, no longer."

Draco nodded. "By the way, can we swap sides? I know I've got big muscles, but I can only go so long with your shoulder sticking into my arm."

Hermione laughed. "Don't kid yourself, Malfoy. Your arms are puny." Okay that was a fair bit of an exaggeration, Hermione realized quickly, looking at his large biceps. Actually, his arms were rather nice to look at.

Draco raised an eyebrow at her obvious lie, before pulling her up so they were both standing. Hermione once again gave instructions, and they counted down before moving and swapping sides.

"Ahh, much better," Draco said, smiling, before sitting back down on the couch.

"Well, I'm just going to let Professor McGonagall know what we've decided." Hermione got her wand out and cast _Expecto Patronum. _Her little silvery otter turned to her as she told him her message before he gambled out of the room.

"You can cast a Patronus charm?" Draco asked, looking mildly impressed.

"Yeah, Harry taught us all in fifth year," Hermione paused, looking up at Draco's face. "Are you actually impressed with something _I _did?"

"Well it is a very difficult charm…" he admitted.

"Who are you and what have you done with Draco Malfoy?"

He ignored her last comment, instead asking, "Can you teach me?"

Hermione was surprised. "I suppose... It's not something you'll be able to achieve overly quickly though. And it's a lot harder to do when actually faced with dementors, but I'll teach you," she answered, smiling.

"Cool."

_This chapter was a bit longer, so I hope you all enjoyed it. Review and make me happy :) Thanks!_


	5. Chapter 5

_**The Incident**_

_Chapter 5_

"Gah!" Draco exclaimed, frustrated by his last failed attempt at conjuring a patronus. He was lucky if he could even get silver mist to emerge from his wand.

"It took me a few weeks to get my patronus and even now I struggle conjuring one when I'm actually faced with dementors," Hermione soothed.

Draco fell back onto the couch, pulling Hermione down with him.

"Oomph," she said, as she landed heavily, having not expected to be pulled down so suddenly. "You know, that's really annoying. You could warn me before just pulling me around everywhere."

Draco, still in a bad mood from the patronus attempts, rolled his eyes and scowled. "I don't recall you warning me before you stormed off at Diagon alley, and then in Snape's office, mudbl- um, Granger."

Hermione frowned, not surprised by him taking his awful mood out on her. She had spent the last seven years around Harry and Ron, after all. She was much more surprised that he had left the insult unfinished and called her by name instead.

"Why did you do that?" she asked curiously, rather than angrily.

Draco instantly looked guilty, thinking she was asking about the mudblood quip. "It's just habit, I suppose. I've spent years and years believing in all that blood purity trash, and even once I realized it was a load of crap, I had to keep acting as though I believed it, otherwise I would be punished."

Hermione was stunned. To know that Draco didn't actually believe that purebloods were superior to half bloods or muggleborns was difficult to accept. "You acted pretty well," she said softly.

Draco exhaled tiredly. "I regret… so much of what happened before the battle, and even in the battle. The things I said… to you, and to others, and some of the things I did make me feel… sick thinking about them," he answered regretfully.

Hermione watched as Draco's focus dropped to the floor. He was too ashamed to meet her gaze, and that shocked her. She was so used to the proud, arrogant Malfoy who would never dare to demonstrate 'weakness' by showing any emotions. But as surprised as Draco was by his own confession, he found that telling Hermione was relatively easy, and extremely relieving. It felt like she was taking a huge weight from him that had been caused by all the pressure his father's morals had forced on him.

"You know what was the big wake up call for me?" he continued. "It was you."

"Me?"

Draco laughed sourly. "Yeah, and your bloody friends. The fact that no matter how hard I pushed myself, you would always beat me in class. I would study non-stop for the Christmas holidays only to return to school and realize that you were _still _smarter than me. And it doesn't take a genius to see how powerful Potter's magic is, and he barely even tried through school. Performing a patronus charm at thirteen? That's almost impossible! And in fourth year, when he got through the Triwizard tournament as an equal competitor to the others who were three years older than him. I, a pureblood, would never have been able to do that. Even Weasley surprised me last year during the battle. I mean, I still think the guy's an idiot, but when he and Longbottom stood up against the Dark Lord after we all thought Potter was dead… well, that takes a lot of guts to do. At the time I thought it was completely brainless, but since then I realized just how admirable that kind of strength and courage is."

Then he sniggered slightly. "Don't take this the wrong way, I still hate you all, but it was you that proved to me blood means nothing. How could it when I know a Mudblood who's smarter than me, a half blood more powerful and two blood traitors with more nerve than I'll ever have?"

Hermione sat in silence for a moment, still struggling to comprehend what Draco was telling her.

"But if what you're saying is true, why did you serve a guy who wanted to exterminate all the muggleborns in England?"

Draco took a long time to answer, trying to find a way to make her understand the choices he had made. "I thought about fighting on your side so often, but you have to realize how things looked for us on the dark side. There was the fact that we knew we could never be trusted – by anyone – if we swapped. We'd be hunted down by Death Eaters, and the people on the light side would have absolutely no reason to fully trust us whatsoever. If we could swap sides that easily, we could do it again.

"And then there was just the fact that it seemed so pointless to even try. Being on _his _side… we saw what he could do to people. We saw his power. It was obvious he couldn't be killed, and we didn't know there was a way to change that. I'd lost all hope that he could ever be defeated.

"But that's not really it either. The main thing that kept me where I was were my parents. I knew my father would never come with me, he agreed with what the Dark Lord was attempting to achieve. My mother would stay with my father, she loved him too much to ever leave him. And then where would that leave me? I'd be disowned first and foremost, then _he _would torture them to get to me. I'd seen it happen before. It started with _Crucio _and ended with _Avada Kevadra_.

"What would you do? Would you do everything in your power to keep those you love safe? Even if it meant that you had to do things you would regret for the rest of your life?"

Hermione thought about her parents, whose memories she'd been unable to recover, stuck in Australia not even knowing they had a daughter. She thought about the torture she was subjected to at Malfoy Manor and remembered considering giving up and telling the truth, but no, she did everything she could to keep Harry and Ron safe.

Slowly, she slid up the sleeve of her robe, showing Malfoy the word that scarred her arm. _Mudblood._

"I understand. This is my reminder of what I endured to keep my friends safe," she said.

Malfoy looked digusted. "I have never been more ashamed to have a blood connection to anyone than I am right now, knowing that my mother's sister did that to you."

Hermione cracked a smile. "Wow, before today I would have always thought that if a blood relation of yours was able to torture me, you'd be bragging about it to the whole world."

Draco sighed heavily. To Hermione he seemed quite depressed. She nudged him gently, saying, "Draco, I've seen a completely different side to in just one day, and I forgive you. For everything." It took a lot for her to say it out loud, but once the words came out, Hermione knew they were the truth. "I understand why you did what you did. It was a war. And if I can understand, I know others will be able to, and they, too, will forgive you."

Draco didn't respond for a long time. He was looking at the floor, and Hermione couldn't see his face. She was worried that she had said the wrong thing, but her eased her fears with two simple words.

"Thank you."

_I'm really sorry this was so delayed but it was just such a difficult chapter to write! And amongst all the time I spent deleting paragraphs and rewriting them, I went on a short holiday and spent my time relaxing in the sun rather than writing._

_I know the chapter was heavy with angst and such, but it was necessary in terms of changing Hermione's opinion of Draco. The next chapter will be lighter, hopefully longer, and should be a quicker update._

_Thanks for reading! Please review :)_


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